Post navigation

Sex Codes Squash Participation of Christians in Public Square

Religious groups account for 19% of the country’s 161,000 non-profit and voluntary organizations, making them the second-most-common type of non-profit organization in the country, according to a 2003 survey by Imagine Canada. The report also shows that religious organizations have more than two million volunteers and are more likely than other types of groups “to have mid-sized and large volunteer complements. For example, almost two-thirds of religious organizations have 25 or more volunteers compared to fewer than half of all organizations.”In the United States, Catholic charities alone provide food for 6.3 million people and a range of health and counselling services to 3.6 million.Archbishop Collins said that given the large number of religious people attempting to do good work in the whole of society, it makes no sense to believe that religious points of view will not be valid outside the church walls.”It’s important to recognize that religious people, believers, exist in our community They serve generously, motivated by their religious faith. They give generously and they are citizens and taxpayers,” he said. “People of faith have earned a place at the table by their devoted service They walk the talk and therefore it would be very odd indeed if their values, which motivate them to do so much good, are marginalized.”

Ms. Buckingham, who is now director of the evangelical Laurentian Leadership Centre in Ottawa, and who is acting as an unofficial spokeswoman for Christian Horizons, said the organization would have lost its case even if it had not received any public funds. She said the tribunal’s nuanced decision meant that because the group extended its services to those of other religions, it could not discriminate in its hiring or firing practices.

She said the greater implication of the case is that it may destroy the character of Christian groups and take away their original motivation for wanting to serve in the community.

“It means you can no longer have a preference for hiring Christians. If you’re a Christian organization and you can’t have a preference, you’re not going to stay Christian very long. In effect, all these organizations would have to become secular organizations,” she said. “There’s a huge impulse within religious communities to serve others. To tell religious people that you can’t do this from your faith perspective cuts off a significant part of what religion does. It also sends this message that we don’t think you guys should be doing this.”

Lori Beaman, a professor of classics and religious studies at the University of Ottawa, said the public has a right to see that its money is not being used to support discrimination, and said Christian Horizons strayed “across a line that was unreasonable” when it fired an employee over sexual behaviour

“While I am a strong advocate of religious freedom, it is not, and cannot be exercised without limits,” she said. (Source)

What limits are those, Lori? The ones established by Egale? Please don’t patronize us with your “strong advocacy for religious freedom” when you clearly put that freedom under the jackboot of the Gay State.

By the way, what are all the gays going to do when the Catholic Church shuts down 25% of all AIDS hospices?

Raise taxes, I guess, to fill in the void left by people who have can’t practice their higher calling because one lesbian decides that her sexual preferences are not being respected.